


Sleep Deprivation

by mysocksdrawer



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 08:37:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4298007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysocksdrawer/pseuds/mysocksdrawer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fiddleford is used to pulling all nighters and is able to push pass exhaustion quite easily. But he's unaware that a certain dream demon has been keeping an eye on him, ready to strike a deal. Being tired is the least of Fiddleford's problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep Deprivation

All-nighters were common place for Fiddleford McGucket nowadays. He’s been working with the Pines’ for nearly a year and had come to the conclusion that staying up all night with his calculations, a new invention or whatever they managed to get into a cage was just part of his life now.

He put down his pan and stretched his arms above his head, yawning hard. Scratching his head with one hand, he glanced at his watch then groaned at what he saw. 6:38am. How he was still awake after over 24 hours was beyond him. He was running on coffee and hope at that moment. He picked his pen back up and started writing in what he hoped was comprehensible English.

While he was used to staying awake until the odd hours of the morning, the past month had gotten a little bit ridiculous.

Even since Stanford had discovered the means of summoning that demon triangle Bill Cipher, the time they stayed up extended dramatically. They’d gone from deciphering old texts whenever they had the time, to getting the information directly from the source. And yes, he was excited, they were building a machine that could benefit the entire human race for God’s sake but, as he told Stanford time and time again, forcing themselves awake to the point where they couldn’t read their own writing was dangerous and lead to mistakes they just couldn’t afford.

Of course, once Stanford Pines set his mind to something, he didn’t stop until it was finished. And who was he to question the man who paid him. He left that job to Stanley.

For some reason Stanley had an intense distrust in Bill, making his stance on the dream demon very clear from the get go. While Stanford and Fiddleford had originally dismissed his paranoia, the longer Fiddleford spent with the triangle the more he began to see Stanley’s point. Once the initial interest and excitement in the demons appearance had simmered down he caught himself feeling increasingly nervous around him. Bill made him feel uneasy.

The fact that he could only communicate through dreams, that he could enter people’s minds on a whim, his over eager demeanour. That he was willing to give them all the information to build the portal without anything in return. Fiddleford was all for seeing the good in people, but his naivety only stretched so far. He’d not told either brother what he thought, but at that moment he decided maybe it was a good idea to voice his concerns.

“So how’s the calculations going, McGucket?”

Fiddleford jumped out of his seat, spinning around and finding himself eye to eye with the yellow triangle. He felt the blood rush to his cheeks, like he’d been caught talking about someone behind their back. Of course as soon as he started thinking about the dream demon he made an appearance. Then a thought occurred to him. What if Bill could read minds.

Fiddleford briefly contemplated punching himself in the head.

“Bill!” he squawked, backing up and gripping the edge of his desk like a life line. “What are you- I mean how- how did you-“

Bill laughed. “Relax Fiddleford. I didn’t possess you or anything. You feel asleep at your desk.” He looked around, taking in his surroundings. “And started dreaming about work. Wow, you really are a workaholic.”

Fiddleford sighed, feeling his heart rate return to normal. Or as normal as was expected in the presence of the demon.

“Anyway, I saw you were asleep and thought I’d pop by to check on you. Stanford’s always around when I’m here. We’ve never really had a chance to talk, get to know each other. I’m sure you’ve got loads of questions to ask me, and I barely know anything about you.”

The offer was tempting. As far as Fiddleford was aware, Bill had an almost infinite knowledge on pretty much everything. But if he asked the demon any questions he had a feeling that he would have to answer some in return. If Bill didn’t know much about him then he preferred it was kept that way.

“Maybe- maybe some other time Bill.” He tried for a nonchalant lean against his desk. “I’m buried under work right now.” He gestured to the stack of paper behind him with one hand, the other remaining firmly planted on the edge of his work station.

“Fiddleford, buddy, you’re asleep. You’re in the mindscape. Any work you get done now isn’t gonna be there when you wake up.” Bill managed to raise his eyebrow in a questioning manner.

“Ah, well, all the more reason to get some actual sleeping done.” Fiddleford floundered. He was grasping at straws here and he knew it. But he turned around anyway and sat back down, folding his arms across the desk and lying his head on top of them, in the hope that the blatant gesture would make Bill go away. He shut his eyes.

There was a rustle of paper and Fiddleford snapped his eyes open to find Bill sitting on the edge of his desk with a pile of notes clutched in his hands. He read them for a moment then glanced sideways at the engineer.

“You sure there’s not something you wanna know? The meaning of life? You humans are always asking that one. Or what happens after you die? Oh, oh I know!”

“Bill, honestly, not right now. I’m tired and-“

“How to get your wife back?”

Fiddleford sat bolt upright.

“How do y’know about that?!” he yelped, accent slipping back. He’d tried to train it out of himself be there were times when, through stress or anger, it come back without his say so.

Bill dropped the papers back on the desk then flipped his wrist. A copy of the Gravity Falls Gossiper appeared in his hand. “‘Raging pterodactyl robot rampages through down town Gravity Falls’. That’s kinda hard to miss, even for a guy that doesn’t have a physical body. You do know you caused nightmares right?”

Fiddleford flushed, casting his eyes down to his hands fidgeting on his lap. He stroked where his wedding ring used to be. “I… I wasn’t in my right mind when I built that thing.”

“Yeah, very few people are after finding out their wife’s leaving em.” Bill stated. He hadn’t taken his eye off the newspaper. “Wait a second, never actually read all of this. ‘Gravity Falls was terrorised yesterday by a 30 foot tall pterodactyl robot, built by local engineer and inventor, Fiddleford H McGucket, who has since been apprehended and is currently being held in Gravity Falls Prison. It is thought that the inventor built the monstrosity in a fit of desperation, after finding out that his wife, who refused to comment, was filing a divorce.’ Geez…” Bill looked up to stare at the engineer. “What made ya think that building a massive robot was a good idea?”

Fiddleford continued to gaze at his hands. “She was taking my son. She said I wasn’t around often enough, that she was surprised I even remember I have a son.” He blinked hard, trying to ignore the tears forming in his eyes. “I haven’t seen him for 6 months.”

He was so lost in how strong the pain was, even after half a year, that he almost didn’t feel the little hand touch his shoulder.

“Fiddleford, I can fix that."

**Author's Note:**

> This was written before the promo was released so please excuse anything that's slightly off canon.


End file.
